Sunday, January 25, 2009

Undeniable Alex

Alexander Ovechkin is incapable of the mundane.

At the All Star Skills competition the most charismatic hockey player the game has ever seen vaulted himself straight from superstar status to legendary.

If Muhammad Ali is a hockey fan, he must certainly appreciate the showmanship that Alex dazzled the league with Saturday night. Particularly since the glitz is attached to some of the most lethal talent ever witnessed. If there was a buzz about what Ovechkin would do in the breakaway challenge, it was elevated to "brood X" cicada volume afterwards.

The Malkin factor was only the first element of the unexpected. Watching him clean the sunglasses and squirt the water bottle for Alex was a wrinkle straight out of WWE's handbook. Who could have expected that with all the swirl preceding the event about the bitter feud between the two players.

Secondly, his get-up was priceless. With a look that melded Bono with Crocodile Dundee (complete with a Canadian flag jutting out of the hat) Alex surprised us even more by grabbing Malkin's stick for a double barreled sortee on goal that must've had the poor goalie as dumbstruck as the viewers. Then, to ratchet up the surprise even higher, he casts away his normal right handed stick and takes his shot with Malkin'sleft handed one.

As the rebound shot trickled over the goal line, the image of him twirling away to partake in one of his trademark jubilant celebrations will forever be etched on the psyche of those who witnessed it, if for no other reason than it was adorned by those gaudy sunglasses.

With a personality as dynamic as his ability... all must hail Alexander the Gr8.